exployer.exe

[Greg Ennis]

Everyone,

I have been using Windows XP professional for about two years and in the
last 2 weeks it has become very slow. In using the task manager it appears
that my CPU is being used at a 100% level with explorer.exe.exe using 97 to
99 % of the resources. When I kill the explorer.exe process the system
functions in normal speed. If I run the process again it quickly assumes
full control of the system.

Can anyone point me in the direction of solving this problem.

Thank you,

Greg Ennis

 

[Greg Ennis]

Correction:

Looks like the problem was iexplore, and not explorer. I still have the
problem so would appreciate someone's help. I can kill the iexplore process
and run netscape without difficult. It is only when iexplore.exe is active
that my CPU usage goes to 100%.

Greg

 

[roger]

Hi,

Everyone,

I have been using Windows XP professional for about two years and in the
last 2 weeks it has become very slow. In using the task manager it appears
that my CPU is being used at a 100% level with explorer.exe.exe using 97 to
99 % of the resources. When I kill the explorer.exe process the system
functions in normal speed. If I run the process again it quickly assumes
full control of the system.

[...]

Try going to Control Panel > Internet Options > Advanced options and
disable third-party browser extensions.

If no joy, perform an online scan using any of the following sites:
Trend Micro HouseCall:
http://housecall.antivirus.com/pc_housecall/

Panda Active Scan:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/

RAV AntiVirus Online Virus Scan
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

BitDefender Free Online Virus Scan
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

Also run a scan with updated ad-aware and spybot to look for scumware:
Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Spybot S&D
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=download

If still no joy, perform a clean boot using msconfig and enable
programs one at a time until you find the guilty one:

310353 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310353

316434 HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows
XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316434

310560 How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Hope this helps

 

[Guest]

I rather suspect you have what is known as Browser Help Objects (BHO) that are trying to "Phone Home". Some BHO's are usefull to add additional functions in Internet Explorer like IE Spell, but most are spyware\adware . Hijack This is free and will help you locate the culprits and remove them. Other free programs that help in this area are SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard, AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy. Good luck.

 

[Greg Ennis]

Try going to Control Panel > Internet Options > Advanced options and
disable third-party browser extensions.

Ok Roger,

I am impressed. Thank you for your suggestion. It worked, my CPU is free
again. Tell me what I removed. Will I miss anything? If the answer is in
some of the links you gave me I'll just review the links.

Thanks again!!!!

Greg

 

[roger]

Hi Greg,

You're welcome.
This disabled the use of programs that serve as extensions to IE
functionality, like the Google Toolbar. Unfortunately lots of spyware
use this feature to wreak havoc, as you have seen!

Having disabled the program, now you need to get rid of it. You need
to perform a scan using ad-aware and spybot. Consider the use of
CWShredder and the other programs, all free, to completely clean your
machine of malware.

Furthermore, a virus scan using the latest definitions would be good,
and the use of a firewall, either XP's own or a third-party one, like
Zone Alarm, free at www.zonealarm.com

More info about parasites:
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Try downloading, installing and updating the
spyware removers from the links below. Run both of them.
Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Spybot S&D
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=download

Download the utility CWshredder:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip

Unzip - close *all* instances of IE & OE, hit the executable and
follow the prompts.

You can also download Hijack This from here:
http://www.mjc1.com/files/merijn/hijackthis.exe

Go here:
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/
For instructions on how to use it; you have to post the log it
produces here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
so experts tell you what is good and what is malware
HijackThis Log Tutorial
http://www.aumha.org/a/hjttutor.php
HiJack This is a program that simply searches for programs that run
at boot time, and checks for browser plug-ins. The results this
program gives you are generally just informative. Most of the
programs it will come up with are valid programs that you actually
want running. You'll have to go through the results and tell the
program to delete unwanted programs. If you can't figure out what
some of the programs are, don't just delete them, research them
and/or post them so experts can let you know what the program does.
Just type the program name into google which gets
a decent answer pretty quickly.

If these don't correct the problem, then get yourself a copy of
BHODemon, available at
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm .
It does not need installing - simply unzip and run the EXE program.
It is easy to use. It will find the hijackware DLL files, and
give you the ability to disable them.

Hope this helps.